The five of them went back upstairs. They finalized their plans and agreed on a time and location for them to meet before the robbery. As they were leaving, Gordon asked for the ski masks, suggesting that he could do something with them to help with their disguises.
Walking back to the car, Dan couldn’t shake a sense of uneasiness. It was almost as if when he breathed he could feel the uneasiness deep in his lungs. Kind of like a tingling sensation. Over the years he had gotten together many times with these people in different combinations for beers and to shoot the breeze. While this meeting had the same juvenile feel, they weren’t just bitching about pointy-haired managers and screwed-up projects. This was something that was going to change their lives. Something that once done, they wouldn’t be able to turn back from. He just prayed that it would work as planned and that there would be enough money to justify him losing a bit of his soul.
None of them seemed to feel like talking. Even Gordon sat quietly in the backseat, a somber expression darkening his face. When Dan let him out at his condo, Gordon told him he was going to spend a few days at the Jersey shore but he would be back by Tuesday night. After they pulled away, Dan asked Shrini what he thought.
“Your friend Joel is very excitable,” Shrini said.
“That’s one way of putting it. We could be kind and call him passionate. He’s not what worries me, though. What did you think of his buddy, Eric?”
“He looked like a small hog walking on two legs. Dude, something’s not quite right about him.”
Dan nodded, feeling his uneasiness now every time he exhaled. “So what do we do, call this off?”
“I still want to do this,” Shrini said. “Our plan makes too much sense not to go through with it. How about you?”
“I don’t know, man. I’ll have to think about it.”
“Just a case of nerves, dude. Don’t think too much.”
“I’ll try not to.” Dan laughed. “Damn, I had been feeling pretty good about this. I don’t know, something about Joel and his buddy put me off.”
“Just nerves, dude. You’ll be fine.”
When they arrived at Shrini’s apartment, Dan joined him inside for a few shots of tequila. After his third shot, his uneasiness faded somewhat.
Dan pulled into his driveway a little before five and was surprised to see Carol’s car there. Usually she didn’t leave work until five. He found her sitting alone in the kitchen, an open bottle of wine on the table in front of her. Carol was not a big drinker, but it looked like several glasses had already been poured. She looked up at him, her eyes watery, her face pale and drawn. She told him she had been fired.
“They waited until four o’clock to tell me,” she said, almost as if in a daze. “They claim I’m being fired for cause. Because I was late for a meeting. All of three minutes late.”
“They’re firing you for that?”
“That’s what they’re claiming. The real reason’s because I happened to be standing nearby when Nancy told the senior partner to go screw himself. That little egotistical prick probably couldn’t stand the idea of having me around after that.”
Dan rubbed a hand across his jaw considering what Carol told him. “So fuck them,” he said. “You didn’t like it there anyway. You’ll look for another job, collect unemployment-”
“You don’t understand. I was fired, not laid off. They’re going to fight any unemployment claim I make.”
“Can they do that?”
“That’s what they’re doing. How can I fight an office full of lawyers?” As she looked at Dan, her blank expression gave way to hopelessness. She appeared utterly, completely lost. “Please tell me again that your interview went well.”
He stared at her for a moment before he remembered what she was referring to. “Yeah,” he said. ‘It seemed to go well. We’ll see next week. The follow-up is scheduled for next Thursday.”
“I don’t want to put pressure on you, but if you don’t get that job I don’t know what we’re going to do. We have no money coming in now and I don’t know how I’m going to be able to find another job. Other firms are going to know I’ve been fired.”
He struggled trying to think of something to say.
“Please,” she pleaded. “Whatever you do, don’t say everything’s going to be okay. Whatever you do, don’t say that. I’ll go insane if you do. I swear to God I will.”
Dan nodded. He fully accepted now that he was going to go through with the bank robbery. He couldn’t help feeling somewhat dead inside. “Where are the kids?” he asked, his voice barely above a whisper.
“Brandon’s dad is taking Gary to a baseball game. Susie left a note that she’s with Julie and will be home by seven.” Carol showed a sad smile. “I need you to join me upstairs in the bedroom. Please, for the next hour try to be with me.”
He followed her out of the kitchen and up the stairs. When they got to the bedroom, they both took their clothes off, neither of them saying a word. For that one hour he lost himself.
12
Gordon set his alarm for six and was on the road by a quarter past. By eleven-thirty he was pulling into the Asbury Park Beach. A couple of teenagers leaning against a Mustang convertible and playing gangsta rap on a boom box smirked at him as he made his way by. Gordon ignored them, ambled along to an empty spot on the beach, and plopped himself down on the sand. He started to take his shirt off, noticed how white and flabby his stomach looked and slipped his shirt back on.
After feeling the sun on his face for a few minutes, he pushed himself into a sitting position as two girls walked by. Both were around eighteen, thin, long-legged and darkly tanned. Both were wearing string bikinis. One had long black hair that fell past her shoulders, the other had bleached her hair blond.
Gordon called out to them, asking if they were Brazilian. They stopped, their mouths falling open as they stared at him. “What you saying to us?” the bleached-blond demanded. “What you mean by that?”
“Nothing at all.” Gordon could feel himself start to sweat. “I’m about to date a girl from Sao Paulo and I just wanted to ask if you were from Brazil.”
“We look like we’re from Brazil?” the dark-haired girl asked angrily.
“I don’t know. You’re both thin and tall and beautiful. I thought maybe you were.”
“We were born here in New Jersey, asshole!”
“I wasn’t trying to insult you.”
The dark-haired girl turned to her friend. “I think this old fat pendejo is trying to pick us up.” The bleached-blond snickered and slowly licked her lips as she stared at Gordon. “Is that true?” she asked. “You think we would want anything to do with a pajero like you?”
“First of all,” Gordon said, jutting out his chin. “I resent being called old. I don’t have a single gray hair or wrinkle. For all you know, I could be in my thirties.”
The dark-haired girl shook her head. “Can you believe this guy?” she asked. The bleached-blond just kept staring at Gordon, licking her lips in an exaggerated motion. “You didn’t answer my question, stud,” she said. “You think you have a chance with either of us?”
“Well, I don’t know. What if I were rich?”
“He thinks we’re whores,” the bleached-blond said to her friend. Then to Gordon, “Who you try to fool? You don’t have no money, but even if you did I would never let you touch these.” She cupped her breasts, staring defiantly at him.
“I could have a lot of money,” Gordon said. “More than you could imagine.”
“Look,” the dark-haired girl said as she pointed at Gordon’s crotch. “This old pajero has a stiffy. I think he’s going to start fingering himself.”
“I don’t have an erection,” Gordon insisted.
“Creep! Pendejo!” the bleached-blond yelled as she grabbed her friend and pulled her away. The dark-haired girl spat in the sand. As they walked away, Gordon made a gun with his thumb and forefinger and shot imaginary bullets through their thin beautiful torsos. He was still doing it when they stopped to talk to two muscle-bound guys in their twenties. The guys stared in Gordon’s direction and then started moving fast towards him.